Long-Term and End-of-Life Care

The care in our facility focuses on differing populations of individuals. Many patients require several days or weeks of medical care and therapy before they can safely return home (or to a lower level of care).

Other individuals require long-term skilled nursing care (lasting weeks, months or even years), as they are unable to return home due to advanced age or illness. Some may remain with the facilities until they pass away. Based on each individual’s needs, some patients receive rehabilitation (therapy) services to either restore or, where possible, improve to prior physical functioning. For the individual needing long-term skilled nursing care, the attending physician and facility staff will assist the individual with the activities of daily living and mobility. It is important to understand that advancing age brings with it the inevitable effects of aging.

As the aging process advances, nursing services may shift to end-of-life care. The staff will assist in making you and your loved ones as comfortable as possible as the end of life nears. Unfortunately, one cannot predict exactly when end-of-life care will begin; it very much depends on each individual’s ever declining health condition which is a part of every human being’s life. It is important for both you and your loved one to discuss with your physician and facility caregivers about the natural history of the aging process, which results in unpreventable declines and bodily complications. This “natural history” refers to the expected progression of an illness or aging process based on vast medical studies. For some, these inevitable effects of aging will weaken an individual and may hasten the end of life.

Unfortunately, due to the inevitable effects of aging, circumstances in declining health conditions often create incurable declines. It is important that we be totally candid with all of our patients and patients’ families. Inevitable effects of aging are known as a “sentinel event.” It is extremely important for patients and families to recognize that “sentinel events” cannot necessarily be avoided.

Your attending physician and the facility staff will help you understand the risks and benefits of care choices. We ask you to understand that in spite of compassionate care, attention, and treatment, chronic medical conditions may continue to progress. The inevitable effects of aging and the progression of chronic illnesses are the realities of life. Park West Nursing & Rehab provides quality long-term care with compassion and dedication as the aging process continues.